Francis dat parmelee



(Noh llddeL) V F. D. PARMELEIE.-

7 FIRE ESCAPE.

Pategl ted Apr. 29, 1884.

. WITNESSES! a a? 5 INVENTOR? m .4 BY Mum (a2;

ATTORNEYS.

NHED STATES ATENT ()FFICE.

FRANCIS DAY PARMELEE, OF HILLSDALE, MICHIGAN.

.' FlRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 297,837, dated April29,1884. I

Application filed May 31, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, FRANCIS D. PARMEILEE,

My invention relates to improvements in fire-escapes; and it consists inthe peculiar construction and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fullydescribed, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of thisspecification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 represents a view in perspective of my improved fire-escape, orrather so much of it as is necessary to explain my invention. Fig. 2 isa partially sectional side view, upon a larger scale, of the pulleyportion of the device; and Fig. 3, an irregular section of the same,mainly on the line a: 00 in Fig. 2.

A in the drawings indicates a rope, or it may be a chain, or strap, orband of sufficient length to extend from the room or place from whichthe escape is to be made to the ground or other place of safety. Thisrope is designed to be hooked or otherwise secured at its one end-eitherend alternately, if desired to some fastening in the room or place fromwhich the descent is to be made. Fitted to or on this rope, so as toadmit ofits sliding up or down thereon, is a friction-pulley case orframe, B, that may be of circular form and so represent a pulley, andwhich is fitted internally with a series of small pulleys, wheels, orrollers, O 0, having their axes at right a11- gles to the faces or sidesof the case B. These internally-fitted pulleys, which are held inposition and protected by the inclosing-case B,

, are here only shown four in number, but there may be any difierent orgreater number of them, and they are so set or arranged at suchdistances apart as to provide for the rope A being passed backward andforward over or B or weight applied thereto, and to provide edge portionof the case B are metallic loops d d, on which engage snap-hooks e e, orother hooks or appendages of pendent straps f f, that are'capable ofbeing lengthened or shortened, and which connect below, on oppositesides, with an adjustable cross-belt, g. This belt and suspension-strapsconstitute a harness to be attached to the person or other body, toinsure its safe descent. Applied to the person,'this harness is strappedaround the body with the suspendingstraps in front of the arms, and theface of the person toward the rope A as it comes through thecase B, sothat the hand vwill be at full liberty to grasp the rope below the caseB, and thus enable the person to control the speed of his descent.

By this construction and arrangement of devices, a person using theescape will be obliged to descend feet first, and cannot possibly fallor descend any other way, and the resistingpower of the device, by thetortuous arrangement of the rope within the case and about the containedpulleys, will carry a portion of theweight of the person, vand so breakthe force of the descent, so that striking, as the descending personmust do, on his feet, the danger of injury will be greatly removed. Alight force applied to the rope below the case B will perfectly controla heavy weight attached to the harness. In fact, a person of ordinarystrength can hold in suspension many times his own weight by graspingthe rope with his hands.

If desired, a leather or other flexible tube, h, may be attached to thecase B where the rope passes out from it, or opposite tubes, h, may beso applied to provide for the reversal of the device. Such tube providesfor an easy and yielding grasp of the rope by the hand of the descendingperson, to control the descent without injury to the hand by the rope.

Attached to the belt r may be hand-strapsi for hold by other personsdescending along with the one in the harness, and who can easily controlthe descent of all.

The case B with its pulleys C is capable of running both ways alike onthe rope, and can be repeatedly used by persons in the building haulingthe rope with the running device on it back, and then fastening the ropeat its previously lower end and throwing out the other or loose endthereof. This alternate use of opposite ends of the rope may be repeatedas often as is desired, and the loops (1 d and attachment of thecarrying means or harness readily provided for this reversal of thedevice B and O C.

A light cord may be attached to the case B, so that in case it isdesired to send down a small child, too light to enable said ease withits attachments to descend by weight, force may be applied by pulling onthe cord to aid the descent, the free end of the cord being thrown outof the building for the purpose of enabling any person who may be belowto thus assist in and control the descent, after which the whole may bedrawn back and be reversed and used as before; or, in case an invalidwho cannot be depended upon to control his descent, or a mother with achild in her arms, uses the escape, then the attached or auxiliary cordmay be held at its loose end by a person in the building, who will thusbe enabled to control the descent and insure a perfectly safe passagefor the descending person or persons.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a fire-escape, the combination, with the case B, having upper andlower openings, 1), and provided with the flexible tubes h and the loopsd, on opposite sides, to receive the suspension-straps, of the pulleys OO, the pulleys G being arranged on opposite sides of the said openingsand the pulleys C on opposite sides of and a little below and above thepulleys C, respectively, substantially as herein shown and described,

2. The combination, with the friction-pulley frame or case B, havingoppositely-arranged apertures or guides b b, and the resistance pulleys,wheels, or rollers O O, of the flexible tubes hi1, attached to said casein continuation of said guides, for use in connection with a pendentrope, band, or chain, substantially as specified.

FRANCIS DAY PARMELEE. Vitnesses:

CLINTON L. BUDD, FRANK M. STEWART.

